In Illinois, minor children and disabled adults sometimes require court-appointed guardians to help them take care of their regular needs and manage their finances. Guardianship cases are handled in probate court, and they can involve many complicated issues, including competing claims and questions as to whether guardianship is necessary. In order to prepare for these complications, it is important to understand the fundamental issues at hand—namely, who will serve as guardian of the person and guardian of the estate.

Guardianship of the Person in Illinois

A guardian of the person is responsible for the person’s care. In a minor guardianship case, the guardian of the person has many of the same duties as a parent, including making sure the child has adequate food, clothing, and shelter; providing for the child’s hygienic and medical needs; taking responsibility for the child’s education and extracurricular activities; and making important decisions regarding all of these matters. A guardian of the person may be appointed for the short term, perhaps if the parents are temporarily unable to care for the child, or for the long term, perhaps after the parents’ death or abandonment of the child.

The duties of a guardian of the person in an adult guardianship case are similar, including the responsibility to provide for the ward’s care and health and the authority to make decisions in their best interests. Sometimes, the guardian is also responsible for caring for the ward’s minor children. However, the extent of the guardian’s responsibilities is determined based on the ward’s needs. For example, a ward could be mentally capable of making their own decisions, while requiring the guardian’s assistance with their physical care.

If you own a business, it is likely one of your most valued properties, if not the property that is the most important to you. A business represents the investment of time, money, and effort, and it is often crucial to your ability to support yourself. As such, the thought of something happening to your business in a divorce can be extremely concerning. However, if you thoroughly prepare for the divorce process, you can effectively address many of the issues that often affect business owners.

How Does a Business Affect the Divorce Process?

Illinois business owners should be well informed about all of the following issues that may arise during their divorce:

• Marital and non-marital property - Illinois law defines what qualifies as marital property, which belongs to the couple and must be divided in a divorce, and non-marital property, which belongs to each spouse individually. Business owners should determine whether their business qualifies as a non-marital asset, perhaps because they owned it before the marriage or inherited it from a family member, or because they have a prenuptial agreement that excludes the business from the marital estate.
• Business valuation and division - When a business qualifies as a marital asset, it is important to determine an accurate valuation before deciding how to address it in the division of marital property. A business can be valued based on its assets, income, or market value. Options for dividing a business in divorce include selling it and dividing the proceeds, distributing ownership shares, or having one spouse buy out the other.
• Spousal maintenance - Business owners who want to retain full ownership of their business will often need to compensate their spouse in other ways. One common option is spousal maintenance, otherwise known as alimony or spousal support, through which one spouse makes regular payments to the other for a defined time period.
• Child support - Business owners with young children will be required to contribute to child support after a divorce. Since Illinois child support obligations are calculated based on each parent’s income, business owners often face additional challenges when it comes to demonstrating the monthly income that their business brings in.

Contact a DuPage County Divorce Lawyer

If you need help protecting your business assets during your divorce, Mevorah & Giglio Law Offices can provide it. We have extensive experience representing clients throughout all aspects of the divorce process, and we will work to ensure a fair resolution in your case. Contact a Lombard, IL family law attorney today for a free consultation by calling 630-932-9100.

When parents get divorced, their children’s best interests and well-being are paramount when determining an appropriate allocation of parental responsibilities and parenting time. In many cases, protecting a child’s best interests means ensuring that they can spend significant time with both parents after the divorce. However, there are situations in which restricting parenting time is necessary to ensure a child’s safety.

Grounds for Restricted Parenting Time

In Illinois, it is fairly common for a parenting time schedule to allocate more time to one parent than the other, whether because the parents agree to this arrangement or the court determines that it best meets the children’s needs. However, a parenting time restriction is a much more serious matter, and it is only ordered by the court when there is sufficient evidence that a parent has endangered a child’s physical or mental health or development. In some cases, a restriction will reduce or even eliminate a parent’s allocated parenting time, but other options are available to the court depending on the circumstances.

The appropriate restriction measures often depend on the reason why the restrictions are necessary. For example:

Preparing for retirement is a lifelong process that requires careful planning and thoughtful goal setting. Most married couples work on their retirement plan together, with many expecting to rely on savings that both spouses have accumulated throughout their lives and careers. However, when your marriage ends in divorce, those retirement plans can be turned upside down, and you and your spouse will likely need to adapt your retirement goals for your new life circumstances. In some cases, this means delaying your retirement date, but there may be other options as well.

What Happens to Retirement Savings in an Illinois Divorce?

What becomes of your retirement savings depends on whether the funds qualify as marital or non-marital assets. If you have a retirement account that was funded entirely before your marriage, it will be considered non-marital property, and you will likely be able to hold onto the entire amount. If you have contributed to an account both before and during your marriage, the pre-marriage contributions may also qualify as non-marital property, though it is important to maintain detailed records to clarify this non-marital portion.

Any contributions to a retirement account during your marriage will likely qualify as marital property, even if you and your spouse each have accounts in your own name. This applies to a variety of accounts including IRAs, pensions, 401(k)s, and more. These accounts will be considered in the division of marital property in your divorce, and if an account needs to be split, it is important to take action to minimize tax consequences and early withdrawal penalties. For example, you should obtain approval for a transfer incident to divorce in order to divide an IRA, and a Qualified Domestic Relations Order (QDRO) in order to divide employer-sponsored accounts like a 401(k).

One of the biggest challenges of being a parent is the responsibility to make important decisions that affect the lives and well-being of your children. Married parents at least have the benefit of being able to confide in and consult with a trusted partner when making such decisions, but for divorced or single parents, this is often not the case.

Even co-parents who get along and communicate well must cope with the challenge of raising their children between two different households, and co-parents who are in conflict with each other tend to face even more significant obstacles. The way that you and your co-parent share decision-making responsibilities depends largely on your family’s unique situation, but an experienced attorney can help you work toward an effective arrangement.

What Kinds of Decisions Are Considered to Be Significant in Illinois?

Under Illinois law, parents have the discretion to make routine decisions regarding their children during their allocated parenting time. However, certain types of significant decisions are governed more specifically according to the terms of a parenting plan. These include decisions regarding: